Liturgical Bible Study Guide: Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord Cycle A
Introduction According to explicit accounts in the first three gospels (Matthew 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36), the Apostles Peter, James and John witnessed an unveiling of the divine glory of Christ, and the appearance with Him of Moses and Elijah. This event has come to be called the Transfiguration on the basis of the scriptural report, “He was transfigured […]
Liturgical Bible Study Guide: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A
1st Reading – 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12 The books of Kings are the fourth part of what tradition calls the Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, 1st & 2nd Samuel, 1st & 2nd Kings). The division between the books of Samuel and the books of Kings is arbitrary and varies in ancient manuscripts. The division;between 1st and […]
Liturgical Bible Study Guide: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A
1st Reading – Wisdom 12:13, 16-19 The Book of Wisdom, also called the Wisdom of Solomon, is believed to have been written in the first century before Christ by a Greek-speaking Jew of Alexandria in Egypt. The Egyptian rulers from Ptolamy VIII (116 B.C.) to Cleopatra (30 B.C.) were not well-disposed toward their Jewish subjects. The Jewish […]
Liturgical Bible Study Guide: 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A
1st Reading – Isaiah 55:10-11 Until the eighteenth century it was presumed that Isaiah of Jerusalem wrote all 66 chapters of the book under his name. At that time scholars maintained that chapters 40 through 66 were written by a different author who lived some 150 years after Isaiah, during the Babylonian exile. In the late nineteenth century […]
Liturgical Bible Study Guide: 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A
1st Reading – Zechariah 9:9-10 The Book of Zechariah, the name means “Yahweh remembers,” comes chronologically after that of Haggai. The prophet Zechariah belonged to a priestly family which had returned from exile in Babylon. Like Haggai, he was called by God in 520 B.C., the second year of the reign of Darius. He probably lived until […]